That’s one embarrassing loss by the flagship program — for many, USC remains the barometer for the conference — and three losses to the Mountain West.

Making matters worse: Nebraska lost to Troy, undermining the quality of Colorado’s victory in Lincoln.

Making matters even worse: Auburn lost at home to LSU, creating a very real possibility that Auburn will finish third, or even fourth, in the SEC West.

If that’s the case, then Washington’s loss to the Tigers could adversely affect the Pac-12 in any playoff discussion.

Then again, Brigham Young won at Wisconsin, which makes Cal’s victory in Provo look better — in fact, it’s the best win for the conference thus far — and provides extra juice to Washington’s schedule.

The Huskies, for those who don’t know, host BYU later this month. A victory by UW would resonate all the way to selection committee HQ outside Dallas.

2. Empty seats on the Herm Train.

You could make a credible case that the Sun Devils got hosed by the officials in their loss at SDSU — that there wasn’t enough video evidence to overturn the catch by Frank Darby — that ASU should have had first down inside the five with a chance to force overtime.

At the same time, the Sun Devils didn’t deserve to win based on how they played the first 28 minutes of the second half.

Their offense was inept — and that might be a tad kind — and their defense was overpowered by SDSU at the line of scrimmage (311 rushing yards for the Aztecs, who were playing with their second-string quarterback).

Next up for the Sun Devils’ sputtering attack is none other than the best defense in the conference (Washington).

Put another way: The reality of the schedule is coming into focus for ASU.

The tough, taxing win over Michigan State … an old-school affair with the Aztecs … then a trip to Seattle. October and November are no easier.

The Sun Devils have several nice pieces — N’Keal Harry is as good as any receiver in the country — and Edwards and his staff have done well thus far. But the schedule is so, so tough for a roster with obvious and unfixable flaws.

And now opponents have a blueprint, courtesy of SDSU, for beating ASU on both sides of scrimmage.

3. Toast in Texas.

For those scoring at home … and we know you are, USC fans … the Trojans are now 0-6 against Power Five opponents without Sam Darnold since Clay Helton was named the permanent coach.

The scores:

2015Lost to Stanford 41-22Lost to Wisconsin 23-21

2016Lost to Alabama 52-6Lost to Stanford 27-10

2018Lost to Stanford 17-3Lost to Texas 37-14

You might notice the margins: Five of the six are double-digit losses.

As we noted earlier this week in the power ratings: There is reason to wonder if Helton’s offense is the optimal fit for the Trojans’ personnel.

Also worth wondering: Where in the world was Amon-ra St. Brown in the Stanford game?

4. Speaking of fits, and losses … may we present UCLA.

It’s worse than I expected and will take longer to fix than I imagined. However …

By his junior year, Dorian Thompson-Robinson will be the best quarterback in the conference.

Yep, the Hotline is calling its shot now: By the middle of the 2020 season, he will dominate.

He moves like Dennis Dixon and throws it like Marcus Mariota, and Chip Kelly’s offense, by then, will be humming.

That won’t do much to calm UCLA fans in full panic mode right now. The schedule is unforgiving (no Oregon State), and the first win could be weeks, many weeks, away.

Maybe when Arizona comes to town in mid-October, or Utah a week later. Either way, the Bruins won’t go 0-12.

(So says the guy who thought they would beat Fresno State.)

5. Speaking of panic, and losses, and bad offense … may we present the Utah Utes.

That. Was. Awful.

We do our best to avoid overreacting to a single result, so we’ll use three results (Weber State, Northern Illinois and Washington) as the basis for wondering:

What are the Utes are trying to accomplish on offense, do they know what they want to do on offense, and do they have the right personnel for whatever it is they want to do on offense.

Washington tried … it tried damn hard …. to let Utah back into that game, and the Utes just refused.

Bad calls, bad execution, bad breaks — all of that and so much more has us wondering whether Tyler Huntley is capable of leading an offense to the top of the division.

He’s a first-class threat as a runner, except he’s not being used as a runner; he’s being used as a pocket passer, except he struggles with accuracy, touch and read progressions.

The running game could be potent, except the Utes (29 runs, 39 passes) seem intent on being a pass-first attack even though they seem to have one high-level receiver.

Britain Covey is an all-conference player and tough as hell, but he can’t beat good teams by himself.

Clearly, the defense will give the Utes a chance to win most games.

They will lose those games, however, if they don’t solve the offensive offense.

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Jon Wilner has been covering college sports for decades and is an AP top-25 football and basketball voter as well as a Heisman Trophy voter. He was named Beat Writer of the Year in 2013 by the Football Writers Association of America for his coverage of the Pac-12, won first place for feature writing in 2016 in the Associated Press Sports Editors writing contest and is a five-time APSE honoree.

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